The present invention pertains generally to pest control systems and methods for combating pests such as mice, rats, birds, and the like, and, more particularly, to electronic systems and methods for detecting the presence and monitoring the activity of such pests.
Small animal pests, such as mice and rats, are typically controlled by the strategic placement of traps and/or poisons. Such traps and/or poisons are placed in areas of known or suspected pest activity. In order for such control methods to be used efficiently and effectively, it is important to have accurate information concerning pest activity, including information on where and when pests are most active. Such information may be used, for example, to minimize the number of traps required to control a pest population. Even more importantly, such information may be used to distribute the minimum necessary amount of poison in specific narrowly targeted locations, thereby both minimizing the cost of the poison application and reducing the risks to, e.g., people, pets, and livestock, associated with placing such poisons in the environment.
Electronic detection and counting devices may be used for monitoring pest activity. An example of such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,326 to Van Dijnsen, et al. This patent describes a system for detecting pests which includes a luring box having an entrance aperture sized to let a small rodent enter the box. A detector or sensor is mounted in the box near the entrance aperture, and is activated by the presence of a rodent in the box. The sensor may be implemented as an active infrared, passive infrared, radar, ultrasonic, or microswitch detector, or the like. The sensor is part of an electronic detector circuit which is also housed in the luring box. The sensor produces a signal which indicates the presence of a rodent in the box. This signal is processed by the detector circuit to provide an output signal. Output signals from one or more luring boxes may be passed to a central registration unit by way of connecting cables. The detection signals are counted, by use of a suitable counter circuit. The number of detection signals counted may be shown on a display and stored in memory in the central registration unit. Each luring box may have its own registration device, in the form of a continuous counter, instead of using a central registration unit.
Such previously known electronic pest monitoring devices are limited in their usefulness both by the limited pest activity information which they provide and in their lack of ease of use. Such devices typically provide only a count which is related to the number of pests entering a selected location in which the monitoring device is positioned. Other potentially valuable information, such as when, e.g., what times of day, most pest activity occurs, and how long pests remain in the monitored area, are not provided by such devices. Such previous pest monitoring devices are also often difficult to deploy and use. As discussed above, such systems may provide pest detection signals from one or more distributed monitors to a central registration unit for counting and display via connecting cables. Such a system can be difficult to deploy, especially in the case where many monitoring devices are required to be positioned over a wide area. Such a deployment using known systems would require the use of extensive amounts of cabling, which can be both costly and difficult to install in a manner which does not interfere with use of an area being monitored. Alternatively, each monitoring device may itself store and/or display a count of the number of pests detected thereby. In order to retrieve such counts from the individual monitoring devices, one must individually recover or examine each such device. Such a process can be very time-consuming, especially where monitoring devices are positioned in relatively physically inaccessible areas, as may often be the case.
What is desired, therefore, is an improved electronic pest monitoring system which provides sufficiently detailed pest activity information to provide effective and efficient pest control, and which is both easy to deploy and use.
The present invention provides an electronic pest monitoring system and method for obtaining accurate and detailed information on the activity of pests such as mice, rats, birds, and other small animals. An electronic pest monitoring system in accordance with the present invention is both easy to deploy and use. An electronic pest monitoring system in accordance with the present invention includes an electronic pest monitoring device which may be used in combination with, or separate from, a bait box. Thus, an electronic pest monitoring system in accordance with the present invention may include a bait box with an electronic pest monitoring device removably mounted thereon. The bait box may include a section formed therein into which bait is placed for attracting pests in the area into the box. The electronic monitoring device includes a pest detector for detecting pests entering the box. The electronic pest monitoring device may be removably mounted to the bait box on a position thereon such that the detector is positioned over or near the bait holding section of the bait box. The pest detector provides a pest detection signal each time a pest is detected thereby. Pest detection signals are provided by the detector to a microprocessor, which stores in memory detailed information derived from the occurrence of the detection signal, such as the date and time of the detection, and the length of the detection event. Such stored pest detection event information may be retrieved easily from the electronic monitoring device via wireless transfer of the information stored in memory from the electronic monitoring device to a hand-held computer unit for analysis and display.
An electronic pest monitoring device in accordance with the present invention preferably employs a passive infrared (IR) pest detector which detects the motion of a pest moving in the vicinity of the detector. Other types of electrical, optic, or electrical/mechanical detectors may also be employed. Detection signals provided by the detector are amplified and provided to the monitoring device microprocessor. The microprocessor includes a real-time clock and associated memory. Preferably, the associated memory is nonvolatile memory. The microprocessor stores in the nonvolatile memory preferably at least the date and time of a detection and the length of a detection event, based on the detection signal provided by the detector.
The microprocessor is preferably also coupled to a transceiver, for transmitting the pest detection event information stored in memory from the electronic pest monitoring device to, e.g., a hand-held computer unit over a wireless communications link. For example, the microprocessor may preferably communicate with the hand-held computer unit over an infrared data communications link, such as using the IrDa Light communications protocol. Pest detection event information received by the hand-held computer unit may be analyzed and displayed thereon and/or retransferred to another computer for further analysis. The pest detection event information communicated to the hand-held computer unit preferably includes a unique ID number identifying the individual electronic pest monitoring device from which the data was transmitted. Thus, the hand-held computer unit may be used to retrieve and store pest detection event information from many individual electronic pest monitoring devices for later analysis and display.
An electronic pest monitoring device in accordance with the present invention is preferably battery powered. The device microprocessor preferably monitors the available battery power and provides an indication to alert a user when battery replacement is needed. For example, an electronic pest monitoring device in accordance with the present invention may have an LED mounted thereon. The LED is preferably controlled by the microprocessor to flash or provide another visual signal when battery replacement is necessary. Battery status information also may be provided from the microprocessor to the hand-held computer unit along with the pest detection event information provided thereto by the pest monitoring device.
The present invention, therefore, provides an electronic pest monitoring system which provides both accurate and detailed pest activity information and which is both easy to use and deploy. An electronic pest monitoring system in accordance with the present invention provides not only a count of pest detections, but also information on the time of occurrence and duration of such detections. Such information may be provided from a plurality of such devices via a wireless communications link to a hand-held computer unit for display and analysis by a user. Thus, pest activity information may be retrieved from an electronic pest monitoring device in accordance with the present invention without the need for cables or wires or physical recovery or inspection of the device. Such wireless communications also facilitates retrieving pest activity information from electronic pest monitoring devices which are positioned in relatively inaccessible areas. An electronic pest monitoring device in accordance with the present invention may be used in combination with a bait box or similar structure, or removed therefrom for positioning in a location of suspected pest activity where use of a bait box is not necessary or appropriate. For example, an electronic pest monitoring device in accordance with the present invention may be placed, separate from a bait box, in the rafters of a building for monitoring bird activity therein.